Event Category: Spring Speaker Series

presented by Bruce Laverty Stephen Girard’s extraordinary testamentary bequest called for the establishment of a boarding school for “poor white male orphans.” The size of his gift and the very specific, yet incomplete, details given in his will created immediate and long-lasting legal, political educational, religious, and social justice controversies. Laverty will examine the architectural

presented by Christopher Rogers, Ph.D Supported by the Mellon Foundation, The Friends of the Tanner House, The Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites (CPCRS), and a growing set of neighborhood partners embarked upon a community-centered platform for a collective vision for the Henry Ossawa Tanner House, a 2023 America’s 11 Most Endangered Places

presented by Edward Thome Located in Elkins Park, Lynnewood Hall is a Gilded Age mansion built for businessman and avid art collector Peter A. B. Widener in the late 1890s. Designed by Horace Trumbauer, architect of other notable buildings, including the neighboring Elstowe Manor, this once vibrant 110-room mansion was left unused for decades by

presented by Danielle DiLeo Kim, AIA In 2026, all eyes will be on Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy. PHILADELPHIA250 is the nonprofit leading the people’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of American independence in Philadelphia in 2026. The People’s Commemoration is a new kind of milestone commemoration in which every Philadelphian feels included and

presented by Shannon Garrison Treasure Philly! is the Philadelphia Historical Commission’s cultural resources survey pilot. Since summer 2023, the Treasure Philly! team has partnered with community members to document the history of the area around Broad, Germantown, and Erie (BGE) through storytelling and survey. The Philadelphia Historical Commission plans to expand this community-centered approach to

presented by Chris Kenney and Aaron Bell After its prolonged abandonment, the Delaware Generating Station designed by John Windrim has been repurposed for use as multi-family apartments, hotels, event space, offices, and soon, a fitness lifestyle campus. Strada Architects Christopher Kenney and Aaron Bell will discuss the details of its adaptive reuse with attention to

presented by William Whitaker Louis Kahn (1901-74) was not an architect driven by practical considerations alone, rather he reinvigorated architecture with a renewed sense of monumental form and possibilities for human – perhaps even spiritual – connection. For Philadelphians, Kahn remains an artist of international significance to this day – some fifty years after his

presented by Nancy Goldenberg Laurel Hill is a 265-acre historic resource that changed the direction and holistic function of America cemeteries.  Located in both Philadelphia (Laurel Hill East, 1836) and Bala Cynwyd (Laurel Hill West, 1869), these nationally acclaimed cemeteries are the permanent resting places for thousands, including Frank Furness, Horace Trumbauer, Alexander Calder, and

presented by Theresa Condon and Joshua K. Blay. From its new location on Spring Garden, the City Archives continues to be a repository for many of Philadelphia’s municipal, genealogical and audiovisual records. The staff at the City Archives helps to maintain, and provide stewardship of, one of the best collections of municipal records in the

presented by Rosalind Remer, Ph.D. In the summer of 2018, after operating for some 80 years, the Philadelphia History Museum (also known as the Atwater Kent Museum) closed its doors. The collection—numbering around 130,000 objects—belongs to the City of Philadelphia, which had, over the years, reduced its financial commitment to the museum’s operations, a key